In The Ground
by Atsirk Enoh
Summary: She woke up in this new world of mutated creatures, strange poisonous gas, and primal people after the bombs fell and radiation lulled her to sleep. While this land was new and dangerous it wouldn't be the first time she was alone. In this new Earth she would find her purpose to live and fight.
**Just in order to keep writing and get out chapters quickly I decided just to write another story! AH HAH HAh HA! Ah…..and I have 5 musical performances to work in for three days starting to day. I work to input and activate lights, wish me luck!**

She was alone when transported to America. Abandoned by her caretakers and left to fend for herself in the streets at the tender age of 13. She was too much of a burden for the mother and father to take on, barely able to feed themselves. On day the girl woke up to find herself alone with only her bag by her side. For days on end she searched the streets for her parents. Going door to door asking strangers to help her find her parents in broken english, sleeping outside when it got dark to wake up in the morning and bathe in a small stream to try again. Day after day she tried to find them to no avail. A couple years later now 15 years old, on a gloomy afternoon and the most recent of door she knocked on to inquire about her parents slammed shut in front of her, she broke.

Then she ran through the city not noticing the looks thrown her way. Pity for the homeless orphan. The girl ran through the woods carelessly until she tripped. Her body lurched forward and slammed down face first on the ground. She lay still tears building up, flowing out when she could no longer hold them in. As day faded to night she sat up and angrily wiped any residual tears from her face. Opening up her bag she tiredly reached in and brought out a water bottle that was half full. She took a moment to look at the slight murkiness of it then unscrewed the cap, drinking a third of what was left. Putting the cap back on the girl carefully placed the container back into her bag. An ache in her ankle reminded her that she had tripped on something. Pulling out a matchbox she found some time back she took out a match and ran it across the box, producing a flame. Taking a few slow small steps forward the girl saw a glint of metal through a layer of leaves. Curiosity piqued she crouched down and swept her hand across the ground, clearing away the leaves and brushed across the smooth metal of a trap door.

The young teenage girl stared at it. Why on earth was there a metal door in the ground? She reached down and put a firm grasp on the handle before she gave it a forceful tug. It shuddered but didn't open. Maybe it hadn't been opened in a while? Carefully placing the still lit match in between her teeth she moved herself to stand in front of the trap door, she planted her bare feet on the ground and grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled, putting all the strength she had into it. It moved one inch, two, then the door finally opened with a shriek of metal. A metal ladder led down into the area below.

"ໂດຍ," She murmured happily to herself. With her bag secured on her back the girl took the lit match back in her hand and gripped the knife she kept in her waistband. Taking a deep breath she braced her herself and jumped down. She was falling through only for a few seconds before landing on her feet, tilting forward to enter a roll and soften her landing. The second she was out of her roll she shot upright, match held out in front of her and knife brandished and her body taut. She was met with a single room. Lights flickered on weakly and she crouched low, glaring at the ceiling for possibly giving away her cover, but she had yet to see anyone.

"ສະບາຍດີ?" She asked, voice echoing slightly.

Slowly, she lowered her knife. All she could see was a couple of bunk beds, a small area reserved as a sort of kitchen unit, storage containers, and maybe a door that would lead to a bathroom. All in all the room was somewhat cramped. She frowned and inched her way around the room cautiously. Only after she searched the entire room was she satisfied that there was nobody here and that she was safe. She sheathed her knife, snuffed out the match and dropped her bag beside the bed. She was about to drop herself on the bed before she paused and looked down at herself. She was absolutely filthy, and quite frankly she was sure that she didn't smell to good. She groaned internally. The last thing she wanted was to get the nice white, and slightly musky, sheets dirty. Opening the only door in the bunker she was pleased to see that it indeed led to a bathroom. The lights automatically flickered on. Walking over to a mirror she grimaced when she saw her own appearance. Her appearance had grown to be more wild and dirty than ever before. Her light brown skin looked like a darker shade brown with dirt smudged in here and there and her dark medium long hair was in a tangled mess, but here brown eyes remained ever the same. Her clothes were in a worse state than her body. Wrinkling her nose she peeled them off and kicked them in a pile at the corner of the room. She would burn those later. They were beyond saving.

She stepped into a bathtub and turned one of the taps and yelped when freezing cold water shot out of the tap. She hurriedly turned the other and was relieved when the water temperature eventually balanced out to a nice lukewarm feeling, then blanched when the water clear water was rapidly transitioning to a murky brown. Pattering along the bottom of the tub the girl took a hold of the plug and pulled it out, watching the dirty water drain as new water poured in. With no items to help in the processes of cleaning her body she rubbed and scrubbed her hands against herself the best she could. Dunking her hair in and out of the water, combing her fingers through the tangles. Once she was satisfied she turned the water off and strolled back out the main room, not caring in the slightest that her nude body was dripping water on the floor. She opened a dresser that was placed between the bunk beds and rummaged through the clothing. Most of what she found plain, but soft. After a few minutes of browsing she settled on a pair of black loose track pants and a blank forest green shirt. Ah, just a second.

In her excitement she nearly forgot to close the trap door. Climbing up the ladder she heard a peculiar sound. It was loud, like a horn, but louder and more….how would she describe it? Metal like? Poking her head out she saw many metal constructs, similar to the shoddy plane that her family hitched a ride on to get to the United States. She felt unsettled. Was it common for so many of them to be in the sky. She watched the planes travel in one steady direction: they were all heading to the city. She watched with morbid fascination she the planes got smaller and smaller the closer they got to the city. She squinted her eyes. Did something fall off the plane?

She got her answer nearly a second later when the city in front her of lit up with a blinding light, it felt hot on her skin. The ground quaked and and heaved the force of it nearly sent her tumbling back into the bunker. The light died down and there were spots in her vision, her hands gripped the sides of the latter until they were white knuckled. When her vision cleared she was met with the city burning right before her eyes. From where she was she could see that a tall building was missing its upper section, black smoke was pouring out of it, raising him in the sky. She rose, pulling almost all of herself out of the bunker in disbelief.

"ບໍ່ ຂ້ອຍບໍ່ເຂົ້າໃຈ," Her voice trembled.

There was no way….. She became acutely aware of the siren blaring now from what seemed to be from all directions. The sound was pounding against her ears like drums. She cowered back from the opening when more explosions sounded. Her eyes dilated from fear and panic. Throwing the outside world one last fearful look the girl pulled the trap door down with a loud clang. It didn't take her long to find another handle to lock off and seal the door.

The girl lay in one of the beds, going tense whenever another explosion sounded. It had been happening now for the past few hours. Now she was feeling very tired and she couldn't understand why. When the bombs first dropped it had been early morning. Last night she had fallen asleep earlier than usual, but now she felt sluggish. Unknown to the girl radiation from the bombs were rapidly spreading across the land, slowly leaking down into the bunker through the most miniscule spaces through the trapdoor. She struggled to keep her eyes open for a few minutes more but soon gave in to the inviting temptation of sleep.

 **The words that were spoken in a different language were**

" **Yes"**

" **Hello?**

" **No, I don't understand."**

 **Can you guess what language I used? I wonder who might guess it correctly.**


End file.
